Sustainable competitive advantages in digital marketing

Columnist Eric Enge explains how investing in long-term marketing initiatives can give you a huge advantage over your competition.

It’s amazing how often I have conversations with people that focus solely on how they can invest $1 and get back $3 or more in a month or less. Sounds great, of course, but the problem is that every single one of your competitors is likely chasing that same $3, so finding these opportunities and successfully executing them is far more difficult than it seems.

Contrast that with the concept of investing in projects that don’t have a payoff for six months or more. There are far fewer companies willing to do that, but here’s the thing: That’s what makes these opportunities so awesome. Imagine the benefits if you focus your energy in a direction that most of your competition doesn’t have the will to pursue.

That puts you in a place where you are building competitive advantage for your business. If it’s hard for your competition to replicate, and you can continue to build on the lead that you’ve built, that’s what you call a “sustainable competitive advantage.”